The World of Yellow Sky

In the past six months, Yan Zhong has selected some bright children to teach his elders to learn to read and do arithmetic.

There are also some literate Fu Zhu in the Yellow Turban Army, and alchemists will also come to help Yan Zhong handle some government affairs after preaching.

After capturing Shangdang County, they also got some thieves and bandits, a small group of Yellow Turbans took refuge in them, and there were also some literate people among them. burden.

They even forcibly recruited some literate and hyphenated personnel from small and powerful families in the countryside to handle the documents.

However, such assistance is still limited. During this time, Yan Zhong has been busy with this kind of affairs.

Suddenly taking over the entire Shangdang County, Yan Zhong had to immerse himself in the files.

Fortunately, the Yellow Turban Army had a large number of soldiers, and Xu An's military order was in advance to maintain law and order in various places. Otherwise, Shangdang County would have been in chaos at this time.

"Not counting our army's garrisons in various places, our army now has a total of 27582 people, of which there are only 872 cavalry. The nobles and powerful families in Shangdang County have a lot of horses that can be recruited. Those who can ride in the army have been compiled There are currently 450 people in the record book, as long as you have horses, you can form an army, but the combat power must have declined."

Most of Xu An's cavalry are from Jizhou and Bingzhou, and people from these two places have more opportunities to get in touch with horses.

However, it is still difficult for ordinary people to get acquainted with riding skills, and most of the people selected into the cavalry are rangers from all over the world.

When Xu An went south to fight Zhu Jun outside Kuicheng, the more than 300 cavalry of the Yellow Turban Army were selected in this way, and they had to train for several months before they could barely fight.

Fortunately, it was the cavalry of Hanoi, not the elite cavalry of Bingzhou and Jizhou. Otherwise, even with the trump card of equipped heavy cavalry, there was a high probability that they would not be able to win.

However, although the victory in the battle of Kuicheng made Xu An's momentum soar, it also weakened the cavalry of the Yellow Turban Army a lot, and there were few soldiers who knew how to ride.

Although Shangdang County belongs to Bingzhou, the terrain is rugged, so there are relatively few horses and people who know how to ride.

That is to say, now Xu An can no longer gather cavalry comparable to the Han army in a short period of time.

Although the main force of the Han army was restrained by the rest of the parties, and the initiative was in the hands of Xu An, lacking cavalry support, Xu An did not dare to attack from Shangdang County and Taihang Mountain too deep into the hinterland of the Han Empire.

"Zuo Xiao, Guo Daxian, and Zuo Miaozhangba have been incorporated into the lord's command, and they have been appointed as school lieutenants to command a part of the army."

Yan Zhong took a map of mountains and rivers from the desk beside him. The map was quite large, depicting the cities and towns and large settlements in Shangdang County, as well as the surrounding Taihang Mountains, Wangwu Mountains, and Taiyue Mountains. .

In the picture, the Wangwu Mountain Range, some bandit forces in the Taiyue Mountain Range, and the location of the pass are marked in detail.

After Xu An defeated the main force of Shangdang County in August, he sent out some scouts to inquire about the information of the two places, and then drew them on the map collected by Shangdang County.

After obtaining Xu An's permission, he commanded the soldiers to hang it in the hall.

"The entire territory of Shangdang County has been controlled by our army. All the passes in the east are guarded. There is no need to worry about it for the time being. However, the Han army can still pose a certain threat to Shangdang County from Wangwu Mountain and Taiyue Mountain in the west."

"The situation in the Wangwu Mountains and Taiyue Mountains is almost the same as when my lord first entered the Taihang Mountains. There are many mountains and bandits everywhere."

Everyone's eyes followed the wooden stick in Yan Zhong's hand, and walked on the mountain and river terrain map of Shangdang County.

"It has been more than a month now, and the scouts we sent out also received news that the Han army near the two mountain ranges had some changes, and even attacked and wiped out several bandits in the mountains. stronghold."

"The civil war in Shangdang County has ended, and the gentry tyrants all over the county were defeated in the Battle of Changping, and their resistance was greatly reduced. Judging from the performance just now, it is not enough for the time being."

"In today's situation, I think that we must fight against the outside world first in order to secure the inside. The main roads in the Wangwu Mountain Range and the Taiyue Mountain Range must be in the hands of our army. Only in this way can we ensure the stability of the outside world and develop with peace of mind."

Yan Zhong continued to speak with a solemn expression.

"Otherwise, as long as a small group of Han troops enter the hinterland of Shangdang County, the impact on the Lord's prestige will inevitably be affected, and it will ignite some other thoughts in the hearts of those gentry tyrants who have already surrendered."

Chapter 172 Make a decision

"The lord defeated Zhu Jun in Kuicheng, attacked Shangdang County like a broken bamboo, and blocked Lu Zhi from the north. His current reputation can be described as the sky, which is why the nobles in Shangdang County are so afraid of the lord. reason."

"The current situation is that as long as the Han army can threaten the hinterland of Shangdang County, or appear in the sight of everyone, it will give them the courage to fight against our army."

"Furthermore, the ordinary people in Shangdang County have not experienced famine like the soldiers in our army. Although they bear heavy taxes, they can still barely make a living. Even if they miss the Han Dynasty, the manpower in the county cannot be used for military use. I suggest, my lord Daoist halls should be built in every city and settlement to spread the scriptures."

Xu An nodded, what Yan Zhong said was indeed true.

The people in Bingzhou have not suffered severe drought. Although there are heavy taxes and heavy burdens, they can barely make ends meet.

Moreover, the Han Dynasty had ruled for a long time, and the forced recruitment of these people into the army, not only did not conform to the rules set by Xu An, but the combat power was worrying and could not be guaranteed, and there might even be the danger of defecting.

After occupying Taihang Mountain, even if troops were sent to invade and loot counties and counties, Xu An strictly prohibited harming innocent people, harming civilians, and even trampling on cultivated farmland was prohibited.

Under the constraints of military orders and military regulations, the Yellow Turban Army under Xu An has always maintained considerable restraint.

Now among Xu An's Yellow Turban Army, those soldiers who used to be thorny and old habits were either punished by the military law to be honest and reformed, or they were mining in a mine in the Taihang Mountains to serve their sentences, or even directly committed suicide. Huang Quan re-entered reincarnation.

Forcing the people in Shangdang County to enlist in the army will only make the people of Shangdang County boil with resentment, and will hinder the development of the Yellow Turban Army.

The best way is to first set up Taoist temples in various places, and spread the scriptures, treat the villagers, and slowly build up the masses just like the development of Taipingdao.

Xu An pondered for a while, then looked at Yan Zhongyan and said: "Right now in the army, there is a shortage of alchemists. There are thirteen cities in Shangdang County. First, we will only open temples in these thirteen cities to spread the scriptures. Cultivate the congregation, and the rest of the settlements will not set up Taoist halls for the time being."

Xu An thought for a while, and then said: "The newly recruited soldiers must be followers of the Taiping Dao."

Time has passed, and now Xu An has sufficient soldiers, it is no longer the time when there was a shortage of troops in the past, it is better to lack than to overrun.

The disadvantages of the crowd tactics are firstly that it will consume a lot of its own soldiers and manpower, and the second is that it requires a lot of money and food supply, and the logistical pressure is huge.

Moreover, the Yellow Turban Rebellion has proved that the crowd tactics are not feasible. Maybe it is okay to face the not-so-elite ordinary county soldiers, but facing the elite Han army, it is just a matter of military merit.

Now is no longer the period of disasters in the seventh year of Guanghe. The refugees are everywhere, and they can plunder the supplies of counties and counties. Xu An has occupied Shangdang County, and the total population is only more than 20 including soldiers.

If they were recruited by force in Shangdang County, or randomly recruited soldiers, the combat power of these soldiers would not even be as good as those skinny and hungry people in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and the logistical pressure would increase dramatically.

You must know that during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the background was the famine years. It was hunger that drove the Yellow Turbans who rose up, and fanatical religion drove them to use their flesh and blood to meet the Han army.

But now these people in Shangdang County are neither hungry people nor believers of the Taiping Dao. When they go to the battlefield, they will only become oil bottles. Even after training, the long-term rule of the Han Dynasty has been deeply rooted in their hearts. Money and food.

Although Xu An can lead the army to attack from all directions, no matter which side the attack is from, it is bound to be strongly counterattacked by the Han army, and the Han army will no longer store money and food in various counties and counties, but there are important warehouses At that time, the results of looting will inevitably be limited, and even the gains outweigh the losses.

"The establishment of the Daoist Hall and the recruitment of new soldiers are determined according to this. How many weapons have been seized, can they be counted?"

Xu An turned his head to look at Yan Zhong and asked.

Hearing this, Yan Zhong unfolded the bamboo slips in his hand and reported to Xu Anhui.

"Our army acquired a total of 2131 iron armors, 4231 leather armors, and several armors for maintenance."

"4875 curved edge shields, 1200 tower shields, 6170 spears, 3000 halberds, 2320 ring-head knives, 1323 Han bows, 3214 crossbow machines, and several feathered arrows."

Most of these weapons were in stock in the arsenal of Shangdang County for a long time, and after the Taihang Yellow Turbans invaded Bingzhou, and after Zhang Yi expanded his army to prepare for war, he summoned craftsmen to build new weapons, but now they are all cheaper than Xu An.

During the Battle of Changping, the Han army was equipped with these weapons, but it was a pity that they met Wang Gong, a county guard who did not know soldiers, otherwise Shangdang County could hold on for a while.

At that time, Lu Zhi will most likely break through the defense line established by Liu Pi and occupy the northern part of Shangdang, which will bring trouble to Xu An's plan. Even if he controls the entire territory of Shangdang, he will need more time to cultivate his health and rest .

"How is the whole army going?"

"The vacancies in the military pawn battalion and the sharp soldier camp are quite large, and soldiers have been transferred from various ministries to fill them up. The rest of the ordinary soldiers are temporarily combined into five divisions, and the establishment of each division after the fifth division is cancelled."

"The military preparations were completely completed on October [-], and the money and rations were also prepared yesterday. We can send troops to Wangwu and Taiyue at any time."

Xu An put his left hand on the knee of his left hand, and put his right hand on the desk in front of him, tapping on the desk lightly.

His eyes went from Yan Zhong to Zhang Yan, and then to Xu Huang, Liu Pi, Gong Du, Bai Rao and the other generals.

Now under Xu An's command, only Yan Zhong and Zhang Yan can stand alone. Xu Huang is still a little bit inexperienced.

Gong Du's character is reckless, not to mention, Bai Rao's command ability is only satisfactory, and he has been following Yu Du all the year round.

Yan Zhong must not be able to lead the army, otherwise Xu An would be overwhelmed by the various affairs of Shangdang County.

Then there are only Zhang Yan and Xu Huang.

Xu Huang in history did have the ability to lead the army, and was praised by Cao Cao for "having the style of Zhou Yafu" because of his strict military management.

In the Battle of Fancheng, Xu Huang led his army to repel Guan Yu, followed Guan Yu to pursue and kill him, and took the opportunity to break through Guan Yu's ten layers of siege, completely lifting the siege of Fancheng.

Since he still lacked experience, the bandits in the mountains just allowed Xu Huang to accumulate some experience.

Xu An made up his mind on the candidate, and immediately said, "Zhang Yan, Gong Ming."

"The end is here."

Zhang Yan and Xu Huang stepped out in response, and obeyed orders.

"The two of you each lead one army soldier, one sharp warrior, and 1000 archers. Go to Taiyue and Wangwu, and gather bandits and bandits in the mountains. Be sure to hold all the passes and main roads in the hands of our army."

"promise!"

Chapter 173 Daotang

"The identities of the captives have been identified. There are a total of 1829 soldiers of the Han army, 1614 powerful private soldiers of the gentry, and 2120 strong men. Please let me know how to deal with these people."

Yan Zhong took another bamboo slip and continued to report that most of these prisoners were captured during the Battle of Changping.

Because of Wang Gong's death in the Battle of Changping, the Han army quickly lost the courage to resist and all surrendered, so the casualties of the Han army were not very large.

Then, when the Yellow Turban Army continued to go north, it encountered the two Han troops sent by Sima Guohua of the Shangdang County Army to support them from the south.

The general who commanded the vanguard of the Yellow Turban Army was Xu Huang. The combat power was very different. The well-trained and superior soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army quickly defeated the two Han infantry who went south to support them.

Facing the cavalry of the Yellow Turban Army who came in groups, these Han soldiers who had just been recruited from the fields for training could only throw down their weapons, kneel on the ground, and were captured by the Yellow Turban Army.

As for the trilogy of the Han army in the south of Bachi Mountain, when the army Sima received the news of Changping's defeat and Lu Zhi's withdrawal, it was an hour before the Yellow Turban Army was preparing to launch an attack on the second day.

Guo Hua took the generals under his command to hand over all their weapons and armor, and gave up resistance.

Since Guo Hua voluntarily surrendered, Xu An did not take them as prisoners, but temporarily placed them outside the eldest son city.

"The mines in the Taihang Mountains still lack manpower for mining. These soldiers of the Han army and private soldiers of the gentry are all thrown into the Taihang Mountains."

Xu An thought about the situation under his rule and said carefully.

"As for the temporarily recruited strong men, we will take them to various places to build Taoist temples, and after the construction is completed, they can be sent back to their hometowns."

Now for Xu An, every manpower is very important.

It is already October and the end of the year to capture the entire territory of Shangdang. The turmoil in the Han Dynasty is continuing and will become more and more intense.

The era when all heroes rise together and chase after each other is about to begin.

……

The Yellow Turban Army has occupied the entire Shangdang County for more than a month.

The residents of Shangdang County were panicked at first and closed their doors tightly, but life must go on, and for a while, they found that the arrival of the Yellow Turban Army did not seem to have changed much.

Even the law and order was much better than when the Han army was still there. Those rangers who had already roamed the streets dared to make trouble, and most of them would be tied up and beaten by the Yellow Turban soldiers patrolling the streets.

In the countryside, most of the thieves and bandits hiding in the forest near the settlement were cleared out by the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army.

Most of the gentry tyrants also surrendered at Xu An's feet, and only a few of them were still holding on to Wubao to resist stubbornly. However, the Yellow Turban Army also blocked them and the roads outside, which could not cause any trouble at all.

These gentry tyrants used to run rampant in the countryside, and even a domestic slave could be arrogant, and most of the nearby villages and settlements were quite resentful towards them.

After being restrained by the Yellow Turban Army, these gentry tyrants did not dare to leave their gathering places at all. Moreover, Xu An also beheaded the tyrants of the three families who were extremely resentful by the people, so Xu An gained a lot of popular support in the countryside in Shangdang County.

However, although the Taihang Yellow Turban Army has Xu An's military order in front, it still has strict military discipline.

But many of them were bandits after all, and violations of military orders still occurred, and there were even several cases of murder and robbery.

But soon these people were all captured by the patrol team of the Yellow Turban Army. After clarifying the case, regardless of their official positions, they all beheaded in the city for public display. This also made the people of Shangdang County feel less panicked.

The construction of Taoist halls in each city has been accelerated a lot with the free labor of those strong men.

As for the issue of craftsmen, the Yellow Turban Army itself was extremely short of craftsmen, all of them were shortly after Xu An entered Shangdang County.

He ordered Zhao Le to take the soldiers to summon the craftsmen in Shangdang County. Shangdang County is under military control, and those craftsmen can't escape at home. Gather these artisans together.

……

Xu An put down the bamboo slips in his hand, rubbed his temples, and confirmed to Zhao Le who was under the hall: "The Taoist hall in the eldest son city has been repaired?"

After half a year, Zhao Le has gained a lot of weight now.

Hearing Xu An's question, Zhao Le bowed again, and said with a smile: "There are still some details, and today's Shenshi will almost complete the project."

"There are four schools of Taoism, Classics, Justice, and Medicine in the Taoist hall, and the candidates for the lecturers are also selected from the army. This is the list made by Yan Junshi."

Zhao Le took out several bamboo slips from his sleeve and continued.

"Bring it here." Xu An ordered.

"promise."

Zhao Le bowed his body, trotted over, and placed the bamboo slips in front of Xu An's desk.

Xu An looked at the obese Zhao Le, but felt a little funny, and said: "Patriarch Zhao, have you gained a lot of luck recently?"

Hearing Xu An's words, Zhao Le was a little dazed. He didn't know what Xu An meant by getting fat, but he didn't dare to ask, so he could only continue to smile.

Xu An looked at the names on the bamboo slips, and nodded slightly. He had probably heard of the list on the bamboo slips, and they were all outstanding talismans and alchemists in the Taiping Dao, but he didn't remember any of the lecturers of medicine.